This is a heads-up for Cingular users that subscribe to their VoiceConnect
service which has been changed to VoiceDial powered by TellMe.

I was a VoiceConnect user until November 1st when Cingular changed the
service provider to TellMe and it is now called VoiceDial. Being disabled I
was receiving the service gratis monthly though Cingular's Disability Dept.
(866.241.6568) which normally sells for $4.99/monthly.

When the change in providers took place all sorts of troubles started. The
main problem was that the "voicedial" feature of the service would not work
up to today, this was complained about Nov. 1st, Nov. 11th, the voicedial
still does not work. All the information services work such as weather,
travel, traffic, horoscope, news, entertainment, etc..

The purpose of my post is not to whine but to let you know that the $4.99
monthly charge that Cingular is getting for this service is robbery.

Make note of this number and save it, 1-800-555-8355. This is the toll-free
number to TellMe. You can use it from your cell phone or a land line phone.
The services that are available when you call this number are the exact
same information topics that Cingular charges $4.99/month for. The
difference is by dialing this number it is free (except for cell phone
airtime which was used anyway when you pay the $4.99 for it)

The only service that is not available is the voicedial service but the
features on the majority of cell phones include voice dialing/commands
built into the phone, it is ridiculous to pay $4.99 a month just to add
that dialing service, which is broken at the moment with Cingular.

One other thing I noticed when you use the toll free free service is that
it times out eventually. You can make choices for approx. 2 to four minutes
that I notice. If you are listening to a feature such as the news, if it
runs over the time limit it will not disconnect you, it will tell you your
time limit has expired after it is done playing. No biggy because you just
call back anyway.

For a lot of information on this service you can Google the number,
1-800-555-8355 directly and you will get quite a few links on it.

I hate to see Cingular charging for a service that is available for free.
IMHO I think they get away with it because they supposedly add the voice
dial feature but according to some of the web pages I read on this service,
they will be adding voice dialing to their free access number also.

So, the fickle finger of fate award goes to Cingular for robbery without a
gun.

Thanks for listening!